AUSTRALIANS AT WAR

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Tuesday, April 01, 2014

NETANYAHU PUTS IRAN BACK ON THE FRONT BURNER

After
nearly five months of little being said about Iran by the Israelis while talks
have been underway between the so-called P5+1 and Iran over Iran’s perceived ‘nuclear
weapons program’, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the issue
of Iran well and truly back on to the front burner. It has been reported
that Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon have ordered the Israeli
military to continue preparing for an attack against Iran for ‘sometime this
year’. A budget of some $2.89 billion has been allocated to the military for
the purpose.

However, as
has been pointed
out elsewhere, Israel’s latest posturing has come at a bad time with at
least one other issue, namely the crisis in the Ukraine and Crimea, taking
global political prominence ahead of what Israel thinks is Iran’s supposed ‘nuclear
weapons program’.

Since in
reality Israel would be unable to unilaterally strike Iran without US help or
back up, and since the US will be unlikely to provide such back up while the
Ukraine crisis still threatens, Israel’s sabre rattling is far more likely to
be just an attempt to bring the matter of Iran back to the world’s attention.

Nonetheless,
once the Ukraine and Crimea crisis is resolved – and there’s very little the
West can actually do about it anyway apart from threaten a few ineffectual
sanctions – then once again the Israeli will be hoping it can lobby support in
the US for an attack against Iran.

While it is possible that Israel could risk launching
a unilateral pre-emptive strike against Israel in the hope that the US will
then feel that it has no choice other than to enjoin Israel in an all-out
regime changing attack against Iran, it is unlikely that Netanyahu would order
such a strike without knowing for a certainty that Obama will ‘have his back’.

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About Me

is an Aeronautical Engineer, Historian and general carer of what goes on in the world.
Apart from an earlier career in engineering, Lataan also has a First Class Honours BA degree in History and a PhD in International Politics.
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